Various mobile or portable electronic devices may have reduced power consumption by operating some of the systems within these devices at low voltages (e.g., 3.0 volts, 1.5 volts, etc.). Such electronic devices often use direct current to direct current converters (“dc to dc converters” or “dc-dc converters”) to “step down” voltages available from their power supplies to the lower voltages used by these systems.
In complex systems, e.g. microcontrollers or mobile communication systems, there may be several different power supply output voltage requirements. For example a digital block might need voltage scaling capability, whereas analog parts may need different supply voltages. In some cases, multiple dc-dc converters may be implemented within a complex device. For example, dc-dc converters may be integrated with various systems on-chip. However, dc-dc converter solutions often suffer from significant switching losses, especially when operated at higher switching frequencies.
Body diode conduction losses can be a major loss contributor, especially in high frequency dc-dc converters. These losses occur due to imperfect switching time instances of the power switches, which lead to current flow through the parasitic body diode of one or more power switches. Converters having fixed power switch timing often have poor efficiency since dc-dc converters operate over various process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) variations that may impact switch timing.